Hey Jealousy
by pilight
Summary: Mike sees Ginny working with a young pitcher in Spring Training. He doesn't like it.


Blip Sanders walked along the path near one of the practice fields where a pitcher worked off the winter rust. The first week of spring training always exhilarated him. "It's a time of rebirth" he thought. Before any of the millions of other spring training clichés could start running through his head, he noticed a tall, blonde player he didn't recognize standing by the fence watching the activity on the field. The young player seemed mesmerised by it. Blip glanced at the mound and saw the pitcher was his close friend Ginny Baker. She continued working, oblivious to Blip and the fascinated bush leaguer.

Blip approached. "You like what you see?"

The blonde turned to face him. "Oh, gosh, you're Blip Sanders. I'm a big fan of yours. My name is Jack Morgan. Pitched in rookie league last year, probably headed for Lake Elsinore this year."

"Looks like you're a Ginny Baker fan too."

"Oh yeah, I could watch her pitch all day."

Most men found Ginny attractive, and Blip assumed Jack's interest stemmed from that. Before he could say something to dissuade the younger man, Jack continued.

"Look at that motion. It's so consistent. Exactly the same every time, no matter what pitch she's throwing. Same time staying still, same wind up length, same spot for the plant foot. Incredible."

"How do you know she's not throwing the same pitch every time?"

"You can tell by the way the ball moves when it gets to the plate. See, that's a curve...that's the screwball...another curve...two seam fastball...cutter...screwgie again...another cutter."

"Alright, I get it." Blip had seen Ginny pitch may times, but he'd never really paid close attention. Watching her now, the clockwork precision of her motion gave him a new appreciation of her ability.

"Plus, her mechanics are perfect. No wasted motion anywhere. She's so smooth and effortless. If she could throw 95, she'd be winning Cy Youngs left and right."

"Nobody's works harder to get that stuff right. She wouldn't be here without those perfect mechanics."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm waiting for her to finish. I want to ask if she can teach me how to throw the screwball, but I don't want to interrupt her routine."

"I've known her for years, it'll be fine. Come on, I'll introduce you."

* * *

As Blip left the practice field, he encountered Mike Lawson. The Padres named Lawson hitting coach for their Double-A affiliate in San Antonio shortly after last season and he was here working with the young batters.

"Where you headed?"

"Field Six. Gotta teach these kids not to swing at every pitch. You?"

"We're on Field One."

"Who's that on the mound?"

"Ginny Baker. Our #3 starter last year. Won 12 games. Also, she's the first..."

"Yeah, yeah, who's the guy?"

"Jack something-or-other. Pitcher headed for Lake Elsinore. He wants Ginny to teach him the screwball."

Mike glanced back at the field and Blip decided to have a little fun with him. He knew his former teammate had a thing for Ginny, so he decided to fan the flames of jealousy.

"Yeah, I saw him loitering by the fence admiring her form."

"What?"

"He wouldn't shut up about how graceful her mechanics are. He's probably been watching video of her."

"And you thought it would be a good idea to introduce him to her?"

"Why not? Two young, athletic people working closely together and using the word 'screw' in every other sentence doesn't mean anything will happen. And if it does, they're both adults. Ginny can handle herself."

The pair split as they reached Field One, where Blip went to work with the other major leaguers. Mike continued towards his own practice field, trying to concentrate on his job.

* * *

Later that evening, Blip entertained a group of minor leaguers with stories from his career as Mike came into the locker room.

"Speaking of Mike Lawson, here's the legend himself."

"Don't forget to tell them about your lucky t-shirt."

"I'm not holding anything back. My career is an open book."

Mike addressed the group; "There was this one night in Miami..."

"OK, I'm getting to that. Leave the story telling to someone who can do it properly."

"That's fair. Have you seen Baker?"

Blip knew he had gotten into Mike's head. Now he had the chance to turn up the heat.

"She came in with Jack what's-his-name when it started getting dark. I think they're using one of the practice mounds where they can have some privacy." He gestured down the hall towards the indoor pitching facilities.

"She's still working with that guy?"

"They separated most of the day working with coaches. I did see them go off to lunch together, though. I guess they hit it off."

Mike headed towards of the practice mounds, away from Blip and his audience, listening for the sound of Ginny's voice. Soon enough, he heard her and Jack through a closed door to one of the pitching areas.

"You're holding it too tight. You gotta relax."

Jack gave out a straining grunt.

"That's better, but you need to go harder and faster."

Jack gave another grunt.

"That's it! You've got it. Give me one more."

Mike burst through the door. "What the hell is going on...in...here?" He trailed off as he saw Jack on the mound throwing a screwball and Ginny off to the side with a bucket of balls, both in uniform.

An awkward silence filled the room for a moment, then Ginny burst out laughing. Jack only met Ginny that morning, so he didn't recognize her fake laugh. Mike knew it denoted anger rather than humor. That laugh said "If I had an axe I'd take your head clean off."

"That's a good one, old man. This is Jack Morgan, a pitcher from single A. He asked me to teach him the screwgie. Jack, this is Mike Lawson, a former teammate of mine. He loves to give me a hard time."

The men shook hands.

"Listen, Jack, it's been a long day and I need to talk to Mike. You're making good progress. Let's pick this up tomorrow."

Jack set about picking up the pitched balls while Ginny led Mike across the hall to a vacant film room. She shut the door hard, almost slamming it.

"What's wrong with you? Are you trying to cause problems for me?"

"I just thought..."

Ginny cut him off with a quote from a great baseball film; "Don't think. You can only hurt the ballclub."

She continued with fury; "You know I don't mess with ball players. No good can come from it. That goes double for players on my team. Nothing could poison a locker room worse. Secondly, even if I made an exception it wouldn't be a kid from the bus leagues who's five years younger than me. He's not even old enough to drink! Third, even if I was interested in Jack, he's married. You would know that if you'd bothered to look at his hand."

"Married? He's only 20 years old." Mike mind reeled from Ginny's rant.

"They got hitched right out of high school. His wife just had a baby. He showed me pictures of little Jack junior when we went to lunch. Fourth, I'd never do anything like that here at the park. I've spent my whole career convincing people I'm not here to spy on guys in the shower or get jiggy with other players. No way I'm going to throw it all away now. I've got way too much to lose. Lastly, even if I somehow lost my mind and decided to bang this kid here at the facility, it's none of your damn business. You're not my boss or my captain or my chaperone. My love life doesn't concern you. Plus, you're living with your ex-wife. If you're serious about trying to make it work, you can't have jealousy about other women. The only woman you should be concerned about is Rachel. God, I can't believe I have to explain this."

"You're right."

"What?" Ginny had another chapter for her tirade ready to go.

"I said 'You're right.' I'm ashamed of myself for acting that way. I should have known better."

"Good. Now that we have that straight, I've gotta go tell Blip this story."

"Blip?"

"He told me you were acting protective this morning. He's been encouraging those feelings all day, hoping you would do something dumb so we could have a good laugh."

"I'm gonna kill him."

"Relax. I'll buy you a beer and we can all laugh together."

They went to find their third, both realizing their unlikely friendship was stronger than either of them ever imagined it could be.


End file.
